Eisenkot and Lieberman meet, say they can form a four-year government

Gadi Eisenkot, chairman of the Yashar! party and the politician now charged with assembling Israel's next government, met Yisrael Beytenu chairman Avigdor Lieberman on Monday, and both men emerged saying they were confident they could build a stable coalition that would last four years. Israel Hayom reported that the talks were described as productive and positive, while noting that significant obstacles to a coalition still stand.

Eisenkot characterised the session as businesslike and good, according to a statement relayed on the Telegram channel of political commentator Amit Segal. Ynet reported that the meeting followed a period of public clashes between the two leaders, and that it came as Naftali Bennett, chairman of the Together party, has still not spoken publicly since election night.

Why this meeting mattered

In Israel, no single party has ever won an outright majority in the Knesset, the country's parliament, so every government is a coalition. After an election, the president consults party leaders and then gives one member of the Knesset the task of forming a government. According to Israel Hayom, President Isaac Herzog handed that task to Eisenkot on Saturday, starting a 28-day period for negotiations.

Eisenkot, a former military chief of staff, leads Yashar!. Lieberman, a veteran politician and former minister, leads Yisrael Beytenu, a secular right-wing party. Both belong to what Israeli media call the change bloc, the group of parties seeking to replace the outgoing government. Any coalition Eisenkot builds from that bloc would need Lieberman's party, which is why tension between them drew attention.

A separate analysis piece in Israel Hayom argued that in this first confrontation between the bloc's leaders, it was Lieberman who backed down, something the paper said surprised most of the bloc's experienced politicians given that Eisenkot has far less political experience. The same piece said Eisenkot's real test is still ahead. That is the paper's assessment, not a statement from either party.

The ultra-Orthodox question

A recurring fault line in Israeli coalition politics is the Haredi, or ultra-Orthodox, community and the long-running dispute over exempting its young men from compulsory military service. Lieberman has built much of his political identity on opposing those exemptions. That makes any coalition path that relies on Haredi parties sensitive for him and for other partners.

In a later post, Amit Segal wrote that the two men agreed to move forward together toward forming a government, and offered his reading that this means the first stage will pursue what he called the Haredi track, meaning a coalition route involving the ultra-Orthodox parties. Neither Eisenkot nor Lieberman was quoted confirming that interpretation in the reports.

Bennett's silence and the draft pledge

Ynet reported that Bennett has not appeared in public since the election, and that lawmakers expected to sit for his Together party have insisted that his silence should not be read as consent. Ynet linked this to concern that Bennett's campaign promise on military conscription could be broken in coalition talks. Yonatan Shalev, cited by Ynet, said the party would not compromise on the matter.

The combination matters for Eisenkot: a route through the Haredi parties, as described by Segal, would sit uneasily with partners who campaigned on drafting ultra-Orthodox men. How Bennett responds is therefore one of the variables in the coming negotiations.

Where the sources differ in emphasis

The reports agree that the meeting took place and that both leaders voiced confidence in a four-year government. They differ in framing. Israel Hayom's news report stresses that major hurdles remain, its analysis casts the outcome as a retreat by Lieberman, Segal presents it as an agreement to advance jointly with an initial Haredi-inclusive approach, and Ynet places it against the backdrop of unease inside Bennett's party.

What the reports do not say

None of the reports gives details of what, if anything, was concretely agreed between Eisenkot and Lieberman, or whether Lieberman has accepted negotiations with the ultra-Orthodox parties. Bennett's own position has not been reported, and no response from the Haredi parties to the meeting appears in the material.